But aren’t Spurs and manager Harry Redknapp mighty grateful that they did?

Redknapp said: “He was exceptional, wasn’t he? He’s done so well since he came here. He hadn’t played that much but he’s getting fitter all the time.

“He’s such a good footballer. He’s got a real eye for goal and he’s always going to pop up.

“But this was a big win for us and I had to sacrifice Pavlyuchenko to get it.”

Van der Vaart came to Spurs’ rescue with two goals and a superb solo performance that took a game his side looked like losing by the scruff of the neck.

He left with a minute to go to the sort of standing ovation Spurs fans reserve for their heroes. And quite right, too.

What a shame the much-maligned Emile Heskey didn’t stay around long enough to receive the same.

You’ve got to hand it to Gerard Houllier – Villa’s new boss knows a talent when he sees it. Even an apparently latent and often controversial one like Heskey.

He’d bagged two goals in two games before this, but yesterday it was the way he turned provider that caught the eye after just 16 minutes.

Heskey produced both pace and power to muscle Sebastien Bassong off the ball before slipping a peach of a pass across the face of the goal for Marc Albrighton to slide the ball into a gaping net. It was no more than Villa deserved.

Heskey could have had a penalty before that during a busy first quarter as the visitors queued up to have a pop against a Spurs side who started as if they hadn’t had long enough to get over their Champions League heroics against FC Twente last week.

Sadly for Villa the injury-plagued Heskey showed all the frailty that so frustrated his former manager, Martin O’Neill, and signalled that a knock he took hurt too much for him to carry on. John Carew duly came on in his place.

But Spurs had their first-half moments, particularly from Van der Vaart, who finally got the reward for his efforts with a headed equaliser in injury time.

The Dutchman deserved his fourth goal in three games. Whether his team deserved to be on level terms at the break is another matter.

Manager Harry Redknapp probably thought likewise. Which is why Spurs looked rather livelier after whatever rallying cry the gaffer gave them during the break.

And if Van der Vaart hadn’t uncharacteristically fluffed a chance he might normally have been expected to grab, they would have been in front just six minutes after the break. But despite that, the ex-Real man, sent off against Twente, was always Spurs’ most likely lad, rarely wasting a pass and always ready to have a crack at goal. Even then you had to wonder how Albrighton didn’t make it a double after Ashley Young’s tantalising cross beat everyone, including the keeper.

But the Dutch master that is Van der Vaart endeared himself even further to the Spurs faithful – and his grateful manager – with a clinically taken second on 74 minutes, his fourth in four.

Disappointed Houllier said: “If we had taken our chances maybe we could have sealed the game, but the players are on the right track.”